Marjorie Wilson Anderson was born in 1902 in Ballee, Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland (now Northern Ireland), her birth being registered in June 1902. She was the elder daughter of Samuel Wilson Anderson (1871-1951) and Edith Maude Monroe Anderson MBE, JP, née Alderdice (1873-1963). Her father was the chairman of Braidwater Spinning Co. Ltd.
The 1911 census shows her as a scholar, living in Ballee, Ballymena, with her parents and younger sister, Barbara Kathleen Monroe Anderson (b.1907), together with a cook and a nurse. Her father's occupation was described as a rate collector and the religion of the whole household was recorded as Presbyterian.
On 26 July 1934 she arrived in Liverpool, Lancashire, on board the S.S. Nova Scotia of the Furness Line. The ship's manifest shows she travelled 1st class having departed from St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, that she was aged 32 years, living in Ballee, Ballymena, County Antrim and her occupation was listed as 'None'.
In addition to being the Assistant Commissioner of the local Girl Guides she was also member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and Senior Commander of an Auxiliary Territorial Service Camp in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, her service number being 192396.
She died, aged 41 years, on 15 November 1943 at Waveney Hospital, Ballymena, which the coroner ruled as suicide. The circumstances of her unfortunate death are shown on the WartimeNI website and she was buried in Section A, Square 10, Grave 25 in the Ballymena New Cemetery, 114 Cushendall Road, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, BT43 6HB.
Probate records confirm that she died on 15 November 1943 at Ballymena District Hospital, Ballymena, County Antrim, and that when probate was granted on 12 June 1944 to her married sister, Barbara Kathleen Monroe Christie, her effects totalled £3,303-6s-3d.
She is also commemorated on the Ballymena War Memorial in the War Memorial Park, Galgorm Road, Ballymena, BT42 1AA, on the Second World War Memorial in the First Ballymena Presbyterian Church, Meetinghouse Lane, Ballymena, BT43 7BS and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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